Round 3 - correcting past mistakes

[103801061982]

Well, i seem to have started another build. Glutton for punishment doesn't even scratch the surface.

The last one plays really nicely, bit there are loads of niggles that I want to see if I can work / think past with a bit more care and attention.

I'm going to use the same shape, but take he carve right to the edge. Body will be limba and flamed ash. Neck maybe limba again, ebony board with a revised fan on the frets - nut closer to perpendicular and shortened scale lengths. It's tempting fate but thinking forward to the finish, I'm looking at natural/clear nitro on this, having had pretty good results with satin rattlers I may go for gloss this tine around.

For pickups I've got a set of bareknuckle painkillers. Currently pink, they're being sent off to be covered. Other hardwear will be hipshot again.

right now I've got the body glued and roughly shaped- managed to do this this time without tearing out half the body. Today was spent messing around with off cuts making a headstock faceplate.

I'm now downing tools for a bit so I can think of a jig for cutting multiscale fretboards

[KnightroExpress]

Very nice! I like the faceplate, I hope it turns out well.

[103801061982]

thanks. Me too.

nervy trip to the bandsaw today. This was a bit outside of what it could cope with really, but I ended up with two faceplates. The next build is going to have the headstock on the right way around.

[Andyjr1515]

Love....no, LOVE the faceplate!   I think that's an idea eminently worth stealing 

I like the look of the body too....   What overall thickness are you aiming for?

[103801061982]

cheers Andy.

thicknessing's on todays list. Shooting for around 45mm at the thickest part I think. I've taken calipers to my Ibanez and PRs and they both come in to around that. After gluing this was more like 52/53. The thickness of the last one snuck under the radar a bit until I strapped it on - this one should feel a bit more svelte.

re the faceplates, you know there are only so many sanding blocks I can make from offcuts before the other half calls my gp.....

as I'm waiting for hardware I'm seriously thinking of starting this ones other half. Planning on a multiscale 8 build for a high a and low b. Thinking maybe 24.5inch to 25.5 inch scale lengths may make it workable if string with an 8 up top. Not sure whether to take it shorter though.

[steve1556]

Love the headstock designs! Was it hard to get the wood curves matched properly after cutting them? Looking forward to seeing how this guitar develops.

[psikoT]

1 hour ago, steve1556 said:

Was it hard to get the wood curves matched properly after cutting them?

I guess they're cut at the same time.

[103801061982]

You'd think so right? That being the easy way. Nope - nowhere near that organised. Because I started off with an offcut of ash from the top, I worked around that. Marked and bandsawed the limba and ebony and messed around on a spindle sander to fit (ive the same triton as you Steve). Theres a bit of dyed veneer between the ash and limba that was sanded flush to the ebony in there too. A bit fiddly to split as I hadn't bothered to thickness before gluing so the ash was 20mm, ebony 10 and limba 30 hahaha - not doing that again.

Got quite a lot done today. Cut the scarf - which, as the nut is straighter is consequently a lot squarer and glued in a maple erm wedge. Knocked off for a cuppa at that point feeling good about myself. Watched a documentary on Grinling Gibbons - now feel like a kid with his lego set and a lot less pleased with myself. I need to learn how to do this. 

Need a new pencil - mech pencil on order.

Thought guys you may appreciate this album cover I stumbled across. I've now been told I need to build a sniper, flame throwing guitar.

 

[103801061982]

5 days and no shop time, still its good to be back at the ranch.

The works supervisor also paid a visit. Since last time I've glued the scarf, and faceplate. My truss rod arrived this morning so I've also gingerly routed a channel for it - slightly oversized bit for the rod, so I've glued a slip of veneer in there. I'll also put a dab of silicone in there. I also went nuts and routed a binding channel for the headstock. time for a cuppa and drilled for the machineheads.

 

[Andyjr1515]

Liked it before, but REALLY like that headstock design now I can see it in situ

 

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[103801061982]

Thanks Andy. Wasn't too sure before it went on but I think in ok with it. This is where I'm going with the binding. Just seeing if I can remember the acoustic building chops. Need some teflon strips really I think, but ill see what I can improvise.

 

 

[103801061982]

Todays idiocy done. Loads of trimming and  a bit of scraping to do but it worked ok. I was pretty nervous about bending the ebony binding with the  veneers glued to the bottom, but no scorching or delamination. Couple of small voids resulting from the tape I used not having enough tack, but nothing that's not fixable. 

About halfway through I worked out which order the veneers should have been glued to get a better transition through the neck to the headstock. hohum.

 Not 100% sold on bound headstocks, but it looks a bit neater than it was. At least I know that if it needs to be done, it can be done. 

[KnightroExpress]

That turned out great!

[103801061982]

Evening gents. fretboard day today. I made a bit of a meal out of the last two so I made a slotting aid. Nothing complicated its essentially an offcut from the neck planed to 90 degrees with a piece of acrylic glued to one edge. I sunk 3 magnets into the plastic to grab the saw and keep it vertical. It worked quite nicely so this ones a keeper - I may go back and make it look a bit nicer. Slots were scored into the wood with a violin knife through a paper pattern taped to the wood. Once slotted I trimmed about 2 mm from each side and then bound, first in cream veneer (Box I think?) and then ebony. I'll let this sit over night and then radius tomorrow.

 

[103801061982]

Fretboard on after a silicone dabbed into the truss channel. Surprisingly fits without overhang. I was starting to think Id cut the neck too narrow. One thing I did do was take the binding a bit thin around the nut on the bass side. I don't think it'll be too noticeable. but something to watch out for future builds I guess. The cream in the neck binding makes all the fettling after gluing that much more obvious. I'll shape the nut next and get it in situ and work out how to open up the truss channel cleanly.

[103801061982]

not much to report over for the last couple of days. Went to see Noel Gallagher on Friday and as I'm starting to get on a bit, have only just recovered really.

I spent yesterday messing around with a bit of an oversight. Wasn't too keen on the space in front of the nut - I shouldn't have cut the fretboard through at the nut. I made up a wedge of bound ebony to sit infront of the nut. the looks a lot more crooked than it is as I haven't sanded it down to where it should be.

This morning has been spent making some noise. I split two limba planks I had into 4 neck blanks and ran through the planer. Always a bit of a gamble when opening up, but I think I'm nicely surprised.

 

[ScottR]

Ooooh nice limba!

SR

[103801061982]

hello gents

Real life seems to have gotten in the way of bench time a bit recently and what time I have had hasn't seemed to be very productive.

Since I Last picked this up Ive routed an angle into the top starting infront of the bridge - mainly to thin the horns a but, but I figured that it would create a bit of air under the strings for the odd bit of clumsy picking. As the neck isn't angled it sits a bit proud of the body, but I'm OK with that.

I got the pickups I sent back to Bareknuckle for covering back. A set of Painkillers is going in this. They worked really nicely in my old universe so I'm looking forward to plugging in.

PIckup cavities routed. and for some reason I had a rush of blood to the head yesterday and started shaping the top. Much shallower carve on this one than the last.  Greatly prefer.

In a flurry of clamps I also glued the neck in last night so now at least I have a guitar shaped stick.

 

 

 

[10pizza]

nice! what did you use to carve? 

[Andyjr1515]

That looks the dog's whatsits! 

[103801061982]

Cheers Andy. Hopefully I don't screw this up - actually quite excited about this one.

Age, wood nibbles are courtesy of a  couple of gouges (30mm 1,3&5) and some sharp scrapers. The gouges are not the most dainty, but certainly get the job done. Scrapers are my thing I think. Before setting off I routed a .5mm channel around the body to help me carve to a fairly consistent depth. You can just about see it on one of the pictures below. There isn't any trace of it now the carves done and it worked quite well, though there is still a butt load of fiddling to do.

This morning was spent roughing in the neck and heel. The neck looks far more rectangular than it is in the pictures for some reason. Again, very much a work in progress. I love the way limba carves.

 

 

 

[103801061982]

Working on this 2 days in a row. Madness. Utter madness.

The boring - control cavity done and hole for the jack nervously drilled.  There's got to be a good, no wobble way to do jem style angled holes. One thing that does bug me is that I keep on routing cavities with no lugs for screws or magnets. Forgetful. On this one I've glued In dowels and the plan is to recess magnets into them. Any ugliness will be covered by the shielding paint. If it works, I guess this will be the MO from here on in.

The fun - chisels out again and scoops cut. I may take the treble cut a bit deeper, but I kind of like the line as they are. I'm waiting for a  roundover bit to be delivered which I'll pass around the edges.

Time for a cuppa.

Tomorrow will mostly be spent waiting for autoglass to turn up so I'm not sure if there will be any tinkering time available tomorrow.

[ScottR]

This one is a beauty. There are some very nice carves going on here as well. Good stuff.

SR

[103801061982]

Cheers Scott

I'm desperately trying not to screw this one up.

I was up stupidly early this morning and decided to do side dots to get them out the way. This ones going simple - abalone dots at 7 and 12. Can confirm that messing around with super glue at 8 in the morning is not the best.

Installed frets today and bevelled the edges. Not my favourite job but I guess you cant have a guitar without frets - or can you......

Not particularly proud of the job done, only seemed to get my stride around 7th and a lot of cleanup to do. They do pass Prostheta's tink tink test though - no dead sounding clunks. Annoyingly I've noticed that I've gone into the binding on the neck a smidge more that I'd wanted so the treble side is a bit thicker than the bass. Rats. I guess rounding over the treble side a bit more would even up a bit, or I could just stop stewing about the small things.

I've gone thin with the neck this time round. Almost wizard thin. Not really a fan on a 6, but nice and comfy on a 7.

So here's where we're at now.

Time for tea. Thanks for reading.

Matt

 

 

[103801061982]

Spent this morning sharpening and giving a bit of tlc to a few chisel handles. I may, or may not have a bit of a thing for chisels and gouges.... Plane irons after a cuppa.

I'm currently using scary sharpening. I can get a really nice edge, but its working out scarily expensive. Any recommendations on water stone sharpening (grits/brands etc) would be gratefully received.